Memories Before Your Eyes
by writing-at-random
Summary: It's been three years since Merlin has fled Camelot because his secret was discovered. Morgana was left loveless and empty inside. Now she is reflecting on her sad memories and the love she has for him that's growing stronger. Merlin/Morgana one-shot


**A/N: Here's just a random one-shot that I thought of while listening to a song. This is the result! Tell me what you think, please!**

**Disclaimer: Merlin is not mine, but the BBC's**

It had been three years since King Uther had taken away the one man she loved more than anyone. Three years since she had been happy. Her dreams had gotten worse and worse since his departure. Camelot seemed to be darker than ever. Arthur never smiled anymore, Gwen became silent, Gaius never opens the door to Merlin's room, and Morgana….

Morgana never talked, smiled, or even attended dinner. She suffered in silence all of these years, taking the pain of her nightmares with bravery. The worst nightmare she had had was when Merlin was in it; his smiling face with big ears, holding out his hands for her. But when she awoke, he wasn't there and his image faded away. The being alone was the scariest part for her. She screamed in agony letting the tears fall down her face.

That fateful night was a vivid memory in the back of her mind:

*****

Morgana was laughing at the jokes her and Gwen were telling. Everything had been perfect and life couldn't get any better. Earlier she had been teasing Arthur about how he was flirting with the guest and recalling Gwen's jealous face. She couldn't help but smile at that.

The king's ward got behind the screen to get dressed for the feast. Gwen was helping her choose a dress to ware.

"What about this one, My Lady?" Gwen asked happily as she held up a beautiful purple dress that flowed to the floor. It was just the think that would catch everyone's eye.

"Perfect!" she exclaimed. Gwen brought it over to her. Morgana changed quickly and then she sat down in a chair to brush her long, black hair. "I bet that Arthur will be staring at a beautiful girl tonight." She teased her maid. Gwen smirked at the thought.

"Yes, the Lady Olivia is quite lovely." She said darkly.

Morgana stood up. "I wasn't talking about Lady Olivia." She walked over to her many dresses scattered on her bed. She held up a dark blue dress that she never wore anymore. "Try this on. I do believe that it would fit."

Gwen step up to the dress. "My Lady, I can't…"

"Of course you can, Gwen. I see how you look at Arthur and that Lady Olivia won't even be comparable to you." She said with a sly smile. "Take it! Now go change into it." Morgana pushed Gwen lightly towards the screen. "Tonight is going to be…"

At that moment, there were loud noises coming outside her door. Morgana opened up the door to see that Merlin had tripped over his feet, knocking over a vase and smashing it to bits. His eyes had fear and panic in them, no longer a playful blue.

"Merlin…?" she questioned as he chanced a painful glance at her and took off down the hall. The guards came out of the corner making Merlin run back the way he came. Guards came from that way as well, trapping him in the middle. Luckily they had not seen him yet. Morgana didn't know why they were chasing him or why he was running, but she knew that she had to do something for him.

"Get in." Morgana ordered. He obeyed instantly and ran into the room without a look back. Gwen stopped in mid step, not even behind the screen yet and Morgana shut the door and started questioning. "Merlin, what's going on?"

He paused not sure whether or not to answer her. "Uther has accused me of sorcery." Merlin said bluntly.

"What? That's ridiculous! You're not a sorcerer. Uther has gone too far." She was angry and it certainly was showing. Merlin looked at the ground, looking unsure. "Merlin, you're not a sorcerer. Are you?"

He bit his lip and took in a deep breath. "Yes," he mouthed. Morgana and Gwen took a step back, shocked by this newly found news. Merlin, a sorcerer, it couldn't be! Could it? It would explain everything that had happened this past year or so.

"Yes I am." He said louder. "I'm a warlock, but you both should know by now that I would never do anything to harm Camelot."

_Boom, boom, boom!_

"Lady Morgana, we have orders to search every room." The guards called. Without even waiting for her to open the door, they burst in. Merlin was restrained instantly. "Did he do anything to you, My Lady?" the guard asked as he glared at Merlin.

"No," she was barely able to speak. Morgana watched as Arthur came in and stared him down making guilt wash over Merlin's face. The prince grabbed him by the arms.

"If you don't already know, you're being accused of sorcery and treason." Arthur said harshly. "And distrust in your friends." He said so quietly that only Merlin and Morgana heard. More pain wash over his face making it impossible to watch without crying.

"I'm so sorry, Arthur." Merlin said quietly. The guards including Arthur dragged Merlin out of the room and slammed the door behind them. Morgana and Gwen were left dumbfounded on the spot.

_

Thirty minutes later, a guard entered Morgana's chambers. "My Lady, King Uther requires your presents in the throne room, immediately." He informed her. She nodded and gestured for Gwen to follow her. She didn't want to be alone, for if this was what she feared, Merlin was doomed.

"Good evening. As you can see, my son, Arthur, has caught a sorcerer that was right under our nose this whole time." Uther announced. An explosion of whispers erupted from the crowd. Uther continued. "Merlin was Arthur's servant and we're lucky that he caught the sorcerer before it was too late." Uther said happily. Merlin rolled his eyes dramatically. "His trial has been moved up because of this reason." The crowed 'ooed' and 'awed' at his every word and stared at Merlin.

Arthur came over to him and forced him to get up off of his knees and whispered something in his ear as he did so. Merlin nodded sheepishly and faced Uther, staring him in the eye.

"You have been accused of sorcery. Do you deny this?" Uther asked already knowing Merlin's punishment. Merlin seemed to know that denying it didn't matter when Uther convicted you no matter what.

"No, sire." He said as loudly as he could. The crowd gasped and Uther remained still.

"Then you will be sentenced to death tomorrow morning." The king said calmly. Arthur took in a guilty breath but dragged him out the doors. Morgana glared at Uther and raced after Arthur.

"Arthur!" she called as he descended down the hallway with Merlin in chains. "Arthur!" she tried again. This time he looked back at her. Merlin still stared at the ground.

"What is it, Morgana?" Arthur asked annoyed at her.

"What are you doing? You can't just stand here and let Merlin die!" Her voice cracked as she yelled through her tears. It was clear that it pained Arthur to be doing this, but he toughened up.

"Morgana, why don't you just go wait in my chambers!" he ordered rather than offered. She shook her head in disbelief and stomped off back towards Arthur's room. Anger filled up her features as her walk broke into a run.

She turned into Arthur's door and sat down on the bed, having nothing to do but wait.

It seemed as if she had waited hours instead of minutes before Arthur stepped into his room, closing the door on his way in. "Now," he said as he removed his sword. "What did you want?" he said, although he already knew the answer.

"What are we going to do about Merlin." She begged.

"Why should we be doing anything? He lied to us, Morgana!" Arthur yelled. "We went a year thinking we had his trust and that he had ours. Now we find out that he had a whole other life that we never knew about!"

"He's still our friend!"

"He's no friend of mine!" Arthur yelled sharply. Morgana shook her head slowly at him.

"You don't mean that, Arthur Pendragon." She replied.

"How do you know what I think?"

"Because I'm still his friend, but I wouldn't have turned him in like you did!" Morgana exclaimed. Arthur looked at his feet; a sorry look crossed his features. "You say that he's your friend and you want to know what he's been hiding from you, but when you find out you sentence him to death!"

"I'm sorry." He whispered.

"Don't apologize to me, Arthur. Apologize to Merlin." She told him. "He's the one who's going to die tomorrow morning because of you." Arthur nodded more to himself then to anyone else and grabbed her wrist. He was dragging her out the door. "Arthur, where are we going?"

He pushed her lightly into a wall and pulled her face close to his. "We're going to get Merlin out of Camelot." He whispered. A smile broke out on Morgana's face, followed by a smile from Arthur. "And we're going to do it now."

They ran all the way down to the dungeons telling the guards to leave. Thankfully, they did as they were told and Morgana and Arthur were able to get to Merlin's cell with ease. When Merlin saw them, he was clearly surprised.

His blue orbs grew to the size of coins and he was frozen in place. Arthur rolled his eyes at his foolishness and unlocked the cell door. He did this as quietly as he could making sure no guards were going to come down to check to see what was happening. "Get up." He ordered unable to say his name out loud. Merlin stood up and walked slowly to the door, looking flustered. "Gods, hurry up!"

Morgana smiled at him for reassurance, then took his hand into hers pulling him along. "What are you two doing?" Merlin asked as they all walked.

"What does it look like we're doing?" Arthur asked bluntly. "We're breaking the law." He pushed him onward with immense force. It was obvious to Morgana that Arthur still hadn't forgiven Merlin like she had.

Merlin nodded. "Thank you."

"Of course, Merlin, we had to. You're our friend." Morgana nudged Arthur to agree with her. He nodded and she supposed that that was good enough for now- _for now_. She had to find a way for them to just hug and make up!

"Where are we going?" Merlin whispered as they reached the courtyard that was filled with guards.

"_We_ aren't going anywhere. _You_ are leaving Camelot." Arthur informed him. Merlin half smiled at this. They quietly ran to a cart carrying hay to hide behind. Guards were blocking their exit left and right. This was going to be impossible!

"Great," Arthur swore under his breath. "How are we going to…" he paused and looked at Merlin.

"What?"

"I can't believe I'm saying this." He said turning to Merlin. "You need to do that thing you do during impossible situations." Merlin smiled a dark smile making Morgana question Arthur's order.

Merlin outstretched his hand. "_Diertye"_ he said as his eyes flashed a bright gold. Morgana looked at the guards to see what was going to happen. Out of nowhere a smoke came for how ever brief a time and when it cleared the guards were on the ground, knocked out cold. Arthur gawked as Morgana pulled both boys along.

They reached the gate and sadly said their goodbyes.

Arthur put a hand on Merlin's shoulder. "Don't come back to Camelot until I am ruling, alright?" he said casually. Merlin nodded and pulled him into a hug even though the prince never was much for hugs, but now it seemed appropriate.

It was Morgana's turn now. She came up to him and kissed him on the cheek gently. He blushed and returned the gesture. "Goodbye, Morgana." He whispered in her ear. Suddenly, the warning bells sounded and Arthur started panicking.

"Go, Merlin, go!" he pushed. "GO!" Merlin took his final chance and ran. Morgana watched him run- and trip- as he went deeper into the trees that would protect him for now.

*****

Her memory ended when someone came in the room. She looked at the door to see exactly who it was. Morgana was surprised to see Arthur standing there, a slight smile on his face. "Morgana," he bowed his head. "I have good news and kind of good news." He stated.

"What's the 'kind of' good news?" she asked skeptically knowing he was just dressing up the bad news.

"Gaius said that he can do nothing more for my father and that his illness is fatal. My coronation is this afternoon." He said still smiling. "The good news is…" he prompted.

"Merlin," Morgana whispered. Arthur nodded. "How long have you kept this news from me?"

"About a week." He said nodding in thought.

"A week?! Why would you do that?" she asked fiercely.

"I have my reasons. Now, I must take you somewhere." He said. Without another word he pulled her out of her chambers. He led her all the way down the main stairwell and through the long hallways until they reached the main entrance. Arthur cleared his throat and out stepped a hooded figure. The man lifted the dark hood that covered his face to reveal blue eyes and big ears and a face with a huge smile on it.

Morgana wasted no time and kissed him on the lips passionately. It seemed like it had been forever since she had last seen him and now, here he was in her arms, kissing her back- that is, until Arthur cleared his throat again awkwardly. The two pulled apart, happy to finally admit their true feelings.

That afternoon came and when the crown was placed upon Arthur's head everyone cheered and clapped, including Merlin who was standing in the crowd, finally able to be who he really is without the lies. And with the Lady Morgana, after long last!


End file.
